In the Sweetness of the Morning

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, [Jesus] departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.

Mark 1:35

I love being a “morning person.” I love waking up early before the busyness of the day has begun. I love the freedom of having the first two-plus hours of my day spent in almost complete silence without distractions and schedules. I love the opportunity to start the day slowly and prepare for the hustle and bustle that awaits me the moment I walk out the door of my apartment.

But mostly, I love waking to a loving God who never sleeps who desires for me to know Him intimately. It is in the sweetness of the morning that I am able to focus on pursuing Jesus Christ. My interests at 5:15 a.m. are not divided. I know why I am awake. And God has blessed that in spectacular ways.

I’ve been an advocate of morning devotional time for the past few years since I got serious about studying the Bible and deepening my relationship with Christ. It seems to me that morning is the best possible time to grow in relationship with Christ. This is in part due to the lack of distractions as I have already mentioned. However, just as significant, I believe it is due to God’s desire for us to give our first fruits to Him.

I’m not sure I’ve met anyone that hasn’t proven by their actions that their mornings are their most cherished time. They sleep in. They wake up and brew a pot of coffee. They go work out. Mornings seem to be “our” time, even as Christians. I don’t think I’m overgeneralizing by making this statement, but I don’t want to sound as if there aren’t exceptions. In general, however, I believe most of us live as if we agree that we own our mornings.

In my desire to challenge myself and others, I must ask each of us this question: if you wake up without quickly setting your mind on God and seeking first the His Kingdom and righteousness, how do you expect to go throughout your day in a successful, God-honoring way?

Considering how busy, instant, and self-focused our society has become, I’m becoming more and more convinced that if our minds have not ascended to the things of God within minutes of waking, we may have a hard time recovering at least a good portion of that day. The effects increase exponentially as we solidify this habit of waking up to serve ourselves before we acknowledge our divine Father’s presence with us. At least in my life, it led me to misery, fear, uncertainty, and a host of other sinful dispositions.

Forgive my narrow-mindedness, but I just can’t see within my heart a way around this for anyone. “I’m not a morning person.” “I’m not awake enough to read the Bible in the morning.” “I can’t function without my coffee.” “I use my mornings to plan out my day.”

You can discipline yourself to become a morning person. It’s worth the effort. God is worth your best effort.

God will speak even through the cobwebs of early morning grogginess. And that grogginess goes away after routine discipline in God’s Word.

You can function without coffee. God’s presence in your life is slightly more significant than caffeine.

How can you plan out your day without first seeking God? I don’t mean that you must ask God to help you decide if you should go to work or not. But, I don’t see how consuming one’s thoughts with a to-do list is God-honoring. In fact, it is a bit insulting to put God behind our human efforts to accomplish a list of tasks that may or may not have any real importance to our overall well-being.

If you find yourself getting defensive (and no I’m not specifically pointing fingers at anyone!), I pray that you check your heart and truthfully examine what you see. Why do you really not want to meet with God in His Word when you first wake up?

I beg your pardon, but I just don’t see legitimate reasons for most of us. I only see excuses.

Now please don’t misunderstand. I don’t say any of these things to condemn. I’m not trying to be self-righteous here. It is only by God’s grace that I can claim to be a morning person, and it has been a hard discipline to develop. I haven’t talked to anyone who naturally has always rolled out of bed straight to his open Bible and into fellowship with God.

What I am saying is that I believe you should make every effort to become a morning person who delights in waking up to enjoy intimate fellowship with your God who is eager to speak to you through His Word and hear the prayers of your heart. I’m confident that you will be blessed. I’m confident that once you see God begin to bless your efforts to rise early, while it is still dark, and head to a desolate place to meet with God, that you will wonder how you ever lived differently and never look back.

I am comforted to know that Jesus did the same thing. He woke while everyone else was sleeping. The sun wouldn’t be out for hours. The tasks of the day were heavy upon Him. And He woke to fellowship with His Heavenly Father. I’m convinced that this was no isolated incident that Mark records, but the normal, day-to-day discipline of THE example we have in how to live a life separated to God. If the God-man, in who the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, saw the usefulness in meeting with God in the early hours, how much more should we see our need for this activity?

Will you follow Jesus in this? I ask myself as well as I recall recent days where sleep seemed so much sweeter than meeting with my Jesus.

Just because sleep or making a schedule or the aroma of coffee and the Today Show seem sweet, don’t let them seduce you. Their promises are empty. Fill your mind with God’s Word from the waking moments of your day and be blessed. Buffet your body and make it useful for your own edification and intimacy with God in the early morning.

Give the first fruits of your day to God and exclaim with the psalmist David:

O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I direct my prayer to you.

Psalm 5:3

And do it with joy knowing that God delights to give you all good things.

Follow Jesus’ example.

He’s the only One worth following, even if everyone else is going the opposite direction.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

They are new every morning;

Great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23